When I came across The Best About Me Page You’ll Ever See on my Twitterfeed I expected to see some funky ideas I could use for my own rather dull “About Me” page. Especially since the “About Me” page belongs to Aaron Iba, the now former CEO of AppJet, the company who created EtherPad which I recently mentioned in 8 Free and Easy Ways to Begin Educating Innovatively. Followers of my blog, Twitter, and Facebook know Etherpad was just acquired by Google for a reported $10 million. Instead of that funky cool idea, I saw a picture of Iba as a child and a link to a clinical psychology report from a 7-year old Aaron that was very similar to my own clinical psychology report my mother shared when I first entered school.
Both reports are trying to diagnose and fix kids who score well academically but were brought in for diagnosis because they don't succeed in school because they are "bored," "hyperactive," and "don't focus or pay attention."
From the report: Aaron's playful attitude toward all school learning will make academic progress very difficult.
It breaks my heart to think about how many bored students are out there whose schools are trying to fix the playfulness, energy, passion, out of them, so they will do school well. Here are highlights from the clinical report for the brilliant, innovative, multimillionaire, Aaron Iba who was referred to a clinical psychologists office to “shed light on the underlying causes of his overly active and impulsive behavior which has begun to present a serious management problem in school.” In his evaluation the clinical psychologist reports:
Regarding school he complains that he feels ‘bored’ he ‘hardly enjoys anything much except lunch.’ He talked freely and showed exceptionally advanced expressive language skills. Often he was quite dramatic in describing his excitement when playing his many Nintendo computer games. Throughout testing he made constant reference to them, as if nothing else in his life mattered or could capture his attention.”
The report also notes that he performs poorly on certain parts of the test because of the inability to focus on a task he did not much care about and suggests that his inability to focus on tasks he does not care about mirrors his “difficulties in settling down in class.” It also indicates that he is oblivious to the reality demands made in a school setting.”
He is diagnosed with “being troubled by an attentional deficit disorder with hyperactivity.”
They find another problem to be that “he readily feels bored and can be expected to function best in a one-on-one situation in which the pace is geared to his needs. The final diagnosis is this:
Aaron and I had similar experiences. These experiences are what lead me to pursue a career that helps others educate innovatively. This is an excerpt from my mom describing my experience as a pre schooler.
Your nursery school called me in to speak to them because they thought you were slow or retarded. They said I should take you for a professional diagnosis because when observing you during classes they noticed you were not participating or doing your work, you were rarely paying attention, you often slept, and that you were not interacting with others the way you should. They were concerned on several levels. They said they thought perhaps you were mildly retarded, your hearing might be impaired, or you had ADD (though I don't think they called it that in those days).
I took you to our pediatrician who referred me to UCLA - Fernald Child Study Center where they talked to you and gave you tests for about 8 hours. 3 weeks later they called me up and asked me to come into the office for a consultation. I met with them and that's when the three doctors (child psychologists etc) told me that the tests all showed that you were not slow OR retarded only BORED. All the tests showed that you were performing well above grade level academically.
I took you and the report to the preschool. They advance placed you into Kindergarten based on UCLA'S REPORT and they wanted to advance you even further, but, I didn't feel that would benefit you socially so I said NO.
Aaron and I both had educational experiences where schools were trying to fix us because we were bored, not paying attention, disengaged etc. Not surprisingly, like Aaron I was also cured once you put a game in my hand, though at the time I enjoyed the pre-Nintendo games on systems like Atari and Intellivision as well as a variety of handheld games that captured my attention for hours. I’m not sure what Aaron endured to “fix” him. In my case they felt moving me to work with students who had a different date of manufacture might help. Fortunately in the 70s ADD/ADHD was not yet a widely available condition so I was not victim to the drug dependency doctors are now pushing to treat today's bored and disinterest kids. Unfortunately, like me Aaron likely spent the rest of his school days bored, sleeping, daydreaming and wondering why meaningless information was shoved down our throat. Like me I imagine Aaron was disappointed that not a single teacher cared about, asked, or helped students discover/uncover/explore passions or talents...and that our love of games and electronics was brushed aside as a nuisance, distraction...whose power was never tapped into and harnessed.
My frustration about this all is what lead me to my career and this blog. I hope to help other innovative educators and parents do what they can to ensure we stop trying to fix the student to fit in the setting of the school and start fixing the schools to engage our children. We need to help students find their passions using tools they choose, use, and know will help them grow their wings and soar to the heights which most of their teachers and parents were never allowed to reach.
Not too long ago, Lisa wrote about joining 23andme, a website that allows consumers to purchase home kits for DNA sampling to send off to 23andme for analysis.
Recently, in our 9th grade biology class we've began our investigation into heredity and genetics. My co-teacher and I are always challenged to make the learning relevant and important for the students. While searching for resources we came across a site sponsored by the Surgeon General: My Family Health Portrait.
This tool guides users through the process of creating a family tree of your medical history. This allowed us to look at our biological families to see if we might have any predispositions to medical conditions such as cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, etc.. Wanting to be sensitive to the wide range of emotions students feel about their families and the diverse arrangements in which we live, we were clear to discuss that family has many meanings and can look like many different things. For students who didn't want to share information about their family, we provided a transcript of an interview with another family from which they could create a family tree.
After students created their family trees, they research specific conditions that ran in their family to learn what they could do to reduce their risk of illness.
The Family Health Portrait is a useful, relevant, and free (hurray!) tool for teachers to use with their students to explore heredity and risk factors.
I also want to thank those of you who visit this space to discover information and ideas about educating innovatively…especially those who are following this blog and those who contribute to the conversation with your comments. I encourage you to take a look at the terrific line up of great education blogs you have to read...then, have your voice heard and vote for your favorite.
At a recent Innovation meeting when talking about what a game changer digital books are, a colleague posed the question, "What is lost when you are not holding an actual book?"
OR GAINED!!??!??!!!!! I heard myself blurt out...when it wasn't my turn to talk.
Paper trained heads that were mid stream nodding in agreement and reminiscing about their disappearing friend (the book) spun my way. **Oopsie** "We aren't losing when we allow our students to Ditch Paper and Get to the Thinking Faster." I whispered. This got me thinking, if some of the most innovative educators in town still haven't bought into going on a paper diet, what does this mean for our students?
When I polled my Personal Learning Network (PLN) to see if they would be sad when books shed their paper and grew wings most who responded said yes, though these followers/friends/friends of friends shared my sentiments:
MrChase - As sad as when cave walls, papyrus and parchment fell by the wayside.
Dianewoodard - NO! The static content of yesterday will become dynamic & allow for ongoing interaction! I love digital content!
Shawn Gross - The death of paper is great thing for kids, the environment and economy.
Thomas Whitby a friend of a friend Jeff Branzburg- We cannot tell our students that we are not comfortable using an E-reader rather than a book. If this is what the future holds, then our comfort is irrelevant to one who will live with that E-reader as reality. -Reflections on Today’s Education from an Old Guy
Andrew a project produced specifically for the web has the potential to be far more powerful, relevant, and contextual than anything that can be done with the same project in print. -My case for moving beyond a printed senior thesis
Yet most of the over-35 crowd is instantly in defense of the way things were/are and express it in comments like these. Ahhh, the smell of the New York Times hot off the press (I am allergic to newspaper ink), the joy of turning of the crisp pages of a magazine (I am paper cut prone), the common bond when sharing a good book (Gone forever. I never remember to get them back.), the feel of pen to paper (my hand cramps and I revise like mad), and so on and so on, and so on.... Below are what most of the comments from my Personal Learning Network looked like.
Comments from some of my online PLN members
Fred DeutschFor me there's nothing like the simplicity and beauty of a book. I enjoy the ease of dog-earring a page, placing physical bookmarks, underlining key sentences, writing notes to myself in the margin, etc. Sure, all of these can be done with pdfs, but for me the e-applications of the above are just more cumbersome and not quite as intuitive. Just my personal preference. gimstI would miss the pleasure to handle a book, paper smelling, the sense of touch, books are special tastes of sensibilit. I don't believe in death paper books the pleasure of reading paper book is not the same reading digital book, they will coexist. Kelley Riley Lanahan My (over 45) eyeballs just can't read as efficiently on small screens! But there's a difference for me in reading for work and reading for pleasure..... Laura I like to hold a book and enjoy the fonts, the spacing in the margins, looking ahead to see how many more pages there are until a break in the paragraphs, or the end of a chapter. I like to find a bookmark or fold up a piece of paper to use as one. I like to browse the library for new books, for books by authors I like, for interesting titles and dust jackets. Kelley Riley Lanahan Ha ha ha. As much as I'm NOT a Kindle fan (other than the fact I can read late into the night and not disturb the hubby), I do like the analogies here. For me, there's something about old-style that still turns me on... Fred Deutsch I enjoy the ability to crack open a book for the first time . . . to hear the binder creak as I open it . . . to feel the texture of the page as I run my fingers over the written word or grasp the corner of the page to turn it . . . or even sometimes the smell of book can have impact. Certainly digital will continue to compete with paper... See More, but I would be suprised if it ever become more popular than paper. Books simply provide a greater fullness of the sensual experience associated with reading and learning, imo. iansands as long as there are beaches, there will be books. Cause it's no fun when sand gets in your laptop. :) Kelley Riley Lanahan Nothing like thumbing through a great read though. And it's been REALLY interesting pulling some of my "classic" reads (e.g. Beowulf) off of my library shelf to compare with the versions being brought home by my HS-aged sons. There are some things, I believe, that can't be substituted....makes for a great dinner conversation if nothing else!
Suzanne Montaperto I love the instant access of the Kindle and other wireless devices....but there's nothing like the smell and feel of reading a good hardcover book!
Troy Fischer @Suz... when was the last time you felt/smelled a true leather bound ... Point is, someone said the same thing when the industry started making cardboard covers with lots of graphics. AND stay tuned, Barnes and Noble's nook designers heard your claim and the Nook covers feel like bound books, hey they may even offer a fragrance "eau de book toilette" you can spray safely all over your eBook LMAO.
My intent in bringing up this conversation is to open the eyes of the paper trained to the virtues of digital because:
It is much better for the environment if we all ditch the paper
You can do more, making the experience richer
Students like it better
It's interactive allowing for not only for easier consumption, but also production of information
A school or personal library of books and print materials are expensive not just to purchase, but to preserve and store. Digital content is much cheaper and richer than any print material. This speaks to the cause of demise of the print newspaper and magazine industry. Textbooks should soon follow suit. If we rely on digital materials the cost drops. Furthermore, with digital content, we don't have to pay the text book companies as richer content exists outside that outdated and ineffective learning tool This article touches on some of the reasons why - Textbook Example of What's Wrong with Education - A former schoolbook editor parses the politics of educational publishing).
We can't ignore the impact of digital text. From the New York Times: The advent of e-books and Google’s online book archive mean “2009 may well prove to be the most significant year in the evolution of the book since Gutenberg hammered out his original Bible.”The E-Book as Gutenberg’s Bible
Many kids already have devices that can serve beautifully as digital readers i.e. smart phones, laptops, netbooks, why not have them pull the devices out of their lockers and pockets and harness the power of the tools kids own. Cellphone Apps Challenge the Rise of eReaders. This comment from one of the readers captures the sentiment. Lance, Chicago November 18th, 2009 10:27 am I had a Kindle, but as soon as I got my iphone, I sold the Kindle on ebay. I have read about 20 books on my iphone, though I also buy paper books, only because not every book is available on the iphone. The reading experience is much better on an iphone than on paper: find characters that I forgot and can look up words. The big problem with the downloaded books: once I have finished reading the book, I cannot share it with anyone else. I am not sure there is any scientific evidence to show that there is less eye strain with the Kindle or the Sony reader compared to the iphone. For those who don't like the font size on an iphone, it's easy to adjust with the different book apps.
Responses to My PLN
The two valid advantages paper has over digital today is battery life and functionality in the sand (I'm at the beach a lot). Beyond that, the resistance to me seems to be the result of my colleagues being paper-trained. When I look at what these folks prefer there is very little that you can't get digitally and digital provides for a much richer experience. Here are some of my responses.
@Fred, I think you like reading longer pieces better with paper because you are used to it. I don't see your advantages. Although I grew up a voracious reader of paper, I've spent the past few years digital and love the advantages. For example, I like to read several books at a time, but don't want to carry several books. I never know when I'll have a moment to read, and don't want to always have to have various books with me. Having them digitally in my computer alleviates that issue. As far as the actually reading, I love doing it on my laptop or smartphone (I don't believe a special device is necessary) because...
I can easily highlight, make notes, bold, underline, right-click (rather than skip over) a word I don't know, search a concept I don't understand, listen to a word I don't know or a passage I would like to hear rather than read while I'm doing something else like getting ready for work, or copy an excerpt to paste and share with my PLN. I don't get it dirty and I never lose it. @Laura, I enjoy all those things when I read digitally, but I can actually do them better and change and adjust them to my liking. For instance, I know how many pages I have, I can change a font I don't like, I can adjust the font size to be bigger, smaller, or a different color as a prefer, I can easily not only bookmark, but also share a page of text. As far as library browsing, I like that too, and appreciate the ability to do it digitally where I can see ratings and comments from other readers and also see what my friends are reading.
@Kelley, for 40-something eyeballs, unlike with a book, you can go to system preferences and enlarge the font. Can't do that with a book.
@Fred, so, we simply need a creaking sound to give you the audio you are missing...there's an app for that! Additionally, texture isn't too difficult, you can already do the turn the page motion in most apps. I'm surprised that you would be surprised about digital overcoming paper. It already has for newspapers.
@Kelley, You are right, there's nothing like thumbing through a great read, and doing so digitally adds layers never before imaginable including making texts accessible to many who never previously would have the opportunity by enabling them to do things like listen to text, enlarge it, define and translate what they are reading. And, as far as the classics, for those with out the cash or room for storage (like us in these teenie NYC apts), they are all available for free online.
An argument missing in these virtual conversations, that often comes up when face-to-face is the edubabble where I'm told, "You can not underestimate the importance of Gardners Multiple Intelligences." You know, Linguistic, Logical-Mathematical, Visual-Spatial, Musical, Bodily-Kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Naturalist (more are added all the time). Like @Suzanne, @gimst, @Fred, et. al. as they remenisce about the feel of the book, the physical paper appeals to the bodily-kinesthetic, and tactile learner. While most educators support Gardner's theory, it is not an argument for keeping the paper, it is rather a case for ditching the paper. Digital text is uniquely suited to address the unique learning styles of students far more fully than paper. For those who still need convincing and like me prefer some tangible concrete evidence, I share with you some articles and videos that come to mind as those that can well demonstrate why we must allow books to shed their paper baggage and grow digital wings.
A Few Strong Cases For Letting Books Shed Their Paper and Grow Digital Wings
Joe's Non Netbook Watch this video about a student who is frustrated as he encounters the extreme limitations of the outdated paper technology. This video was an impromptu exchange between Joe the student and @MrChase who teaches at Chris Lehmann's Science Leadership Academy. Think about if it is paper or digital that is more suited to meeting various learning styles and needs of students.
What Happens When You Combine A Phone and A Book? It’s a really simple idea (essentially a cardboard box with an iPhone sized hole!) that combines print and technology beautifully.
What Happens When you Give a 3, 4, 8-Year-Old an iTouch? I recently happened to come across all these pieces separately. Each of them addresses in a different way how a digital iTouch has become an engaging and preferred tool for student reading and writing. I don't think any of the creators knew about one another when crafting their pieces. They all make strong cases about the power of providing tech to students. The message that comes to mind strongly is the tactile experience that digital technology provides. When I hear folks reminisce about the "feel of the book" I think about how much richer the experience could be digitally. This first video does an amazing job of conveying this.
In this video you see students using iTouches devices like it's second nature just like they do outside the classroom. They use the devices for reading, writing research and more using applications that are either free or much less expensive than the traditional textbook.
Devices to Take Textbooks Beyond Text I am not a supporter of textbooks, but if educators can't break away from the outdated habit, digital is an improvement that is considered in this NY Times article. From the article: NEWSPAPERS and novels are moving briskly from paper to pixels, but textbooks have yet to find the perfect electronic home. Now there is a new approach that may adapt well to textbook pages: two-screen e-book readers with a traditional e-paper display on one screen and a liquid-crystal display on the other to render graphics like science animations in color.
Until educators see the value of conducting our reading and writing digitally, I believe our students will continue to drown in the paper. I am not promoting that we go out and purchase kindles or other eReaders for our schools either. The real opportunity is to embrace the technology our students already have access to and harness the power of the fourth screen to engage in their reading, writing, and thinking 21st century style.
I recently attended a conference where I ran into a couple out-of-touch old timers who wanted to explain to me why things are the way they are. The conversation went like this: The first guy said, “Ya know, nothing in life is free.” The next one chimed in, “Uh huh! Ya get what you pay for.” Followed by, “It takes a lot to bring schools into the 21st century. Expensive equipment. Expensive software. Expensive training.” Then in unison, “And, of course people like us.” I felt like I was watching a bad sit com as these two out-of-touch white guys sat back snidely trying to convince me of their Archie Bunker reality. Well as Edith used to say, ‘Those WERE days,” and while I remember them too, like it or not, the world looks very different than it did back then, at least outside the school walls.
Listening to these guys made me want to scream. So, I did. "It’s not true! Many things in life are free. You don’t have to pay for what you get. And it doesn’t take as much as you think to move schools into the 21st century. You just need to update and shift your thinking."
The two men looked at me and then each other shaking their heads. Then one of them said, “You still have the sparkle in your eye. That hope. That passion. You’ll learn. When you’ve been around as long as we have, you’ll discover nothing changes and there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.” I felt like I’d been zapped back in time and realized that sadly this is the time zone in which many students are stuck with educators and administrators who refuse to think outside the ban and chose to ignore the fact that The PODs (personally owned devices) are indeed coming to a classroom near you.
So, I retorted. “What you are saying isn’t true anymore. The rules have changed. The best tools in life are free…at least for educators. There is such a thing a free lunch.” “Oh yeah,” one of the guys said. “Maybe you can get something for free but it won’t last.” “What? Yes it will,” I insisted. “Okay,” he said. “Give me an example.” It was at this moment that I realized that although I was at a tech conference, many of these people still live the technology past. I took a breath and shared that there are an endless number of free tools and they are going to be around. "Oh really?" one of the men asked as he looked at me over the top of his glasses. "Like what?" "Well," I said, "The whole Google suite for starters. Add to that wikis, blogs, YouTube, Watchknow, video conferencing, phone calls, and I could go on and on. “Nah, those things won’t last,” the two men said to each other shaking their heads. “She’ll learn. Nothing in life is free. The sparkle in her eye will fade away just like ours has.”
People like these old-timers need to hold on to this reality and convince others of it’s truth not only because folks are resist to change, but because it keeps them employed. On the other end of the spectrum, we have businesses fooling educators and administrators into believing it is difficult to educate innovatively because doing so results in big bucks for the companies who want to make a profit off of you. They want to sell you their equipment, products, and licenses, and charge you money to train you to learn how to use it.
There is a lot at stake for these old timers and big businesses if educators don't believe their in-the-past reality. They’ve done a pretty good job of scaring many out of joining the present connected world in which we live. The big disconnect comes because, today’s digital native students know that if it’s designed right, it doesn’t require a manual, training, or a lot of money. However, many of their digital immigrant teachers and administrators who grew up in a close-sourced world where they paid for quality and read the manual first, have yet to learn this lesson. As a result, two things are happening. 1) Teachers aren’t teaching as innovatively as they could because they’re fooled into believing it is hard and expensive. 2) Administrators are wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars on things that are available for FREE! Here are some of them.
8 Free and Easy Tools Innovative Educators Can Start Using Today
The following tools are all free and simple to use. This means there’s no cost, nothing to download, no CDs, no manuals and no training. The best of these also do not require users to have email, registration or log ins.
STUDENT RESPONSE SYSTEM
Overview: Educators know that getting audience feedback is important, but how often does a teacher really know what her students are thinking and feeling? Not very. Companies like Promethean and Smartboard will lead you to believe that you need to spend thousands to purchase their student response systems. They have complex software, training, and manuals to go along with all that. You also may have a hard time distributing and learning to use the equipment too. At a recent conference the tech-savvy organizer needed an army of people to support his distribution of the devices and help him run the software. At another conference I attended, the vendor who was presenting on student response systems didn’t include them in his presentation because she felt there wasn’t enough time to distribute them. No wonder educators haven’t been using this stuff.
Poll Everywhere is a great tool that can be used by anyone who knows someone with a laptop or a cell phone they can send a text message from. For educators in schools without laptops and where phones are banned, this can still be a powerful tool that students can use outside of school by students who have their own phone or laptop or have family, friends or a public facility with a phone or laptop they can use. Futhermore Poll Everywhere is free for people who need to collect 30 or fewer responses per poll, and for schools who have not made Adequate Yearly Progress.
To use poll everywhere the teacher sets up an account at which they’ll be assigned a number or url for participants to send their answers. Within the message students enter the code corresponding to their response. This looks similar to what you see on popular shows such as American Idol. Without any additional equipment or need to download software within seconds educators will have student responses. Another nice feature is that it doesn't matter what device your students are using as text message, web, and smartphone responses can be instantly combined.
Overview: There are all sorts of reading and writing software programs out there. Many New York City educators have seen, these programs in their school oft times in packages collecting dust because the person trained is gone, the system is not compatible, they didn’t know they needed a server, the server’s down, etc. etc. Some innovative educators may have used one of my favorite tools for collaborative writing, Google docs, but gotten frustrated when using it with a class because students need emails, everyone must sign in and register, collaboration isn’t in real time so it is easy to overwrite the work of a collaborator, and the chat feature is clunky at best.
The Tool: Etherpad Innovative educators know that as a result of technology, the writing process has changed drastically. Some teachers, even those with whom I’ve worked in 1:1 environments are stuck in the past though, with students moving along the same pace, following a very similar process of brainstorming, first draft, second draft, revisions, edits, publishing. Writing in the 21st century no longer looks like this. Students never have to write anything over. They write, read, copy, paste, link, etc. to come up with a final draft.
Innovative educators need to get students off of the paper (no, digital natives don’t need to write on paper first like some of the digital immigrants do) and allow them to get to the thinking and producing faster by composing digitally. The tool I recommend they use is http://etherpad.com/. Etherpad allows students to write individually, in pairs, or in groups. It tracks by color who wrote what information. It has an area for chat, and a teacher can play back and observe the writing and revision process of their students. This in essence give teachers the ability to see the writing process for any student, pair, or group anytime, anywhere. Additionally, because each participants in put is color-coded there is never a question about the level of contribution from group participants. It’s all right there. Finally, of course, since this is web-based, students needn’t be conferring with students in their classroom only they can connect with others around the globe.
Another terrific feature is the live playback. This lets a teacher watch the students step by step writing and revision process including exactly which student contributed what and when. You can see my sample pad here http://innovativeedu.etherpad.com/1 and the playback here http://innovativeedu.etherpad.com/ep/pad/view/1/latest
Watch the demo:
http://screenjel.ly/7PWKblRbPdI
WRITING LEVEL TOOLS
Overview: When I worked as a literacy coach in 2003, part of my work was to help all our teachers conduct publishing parties at the end of each unit of study. It was at this time that we celebrated student work and placed the books into the classroom library. Classroom libraries were sorted by genre and reading level. We never sorted student or teacher published books that way. In fact we rarely thought about the reading level of a students writing. I realize now, that looking at the level of a students writing would have been a valuable tool and helpful for students and teachers alike. Students might want to know what the readability level of a piece of their writing is and perhaps put their writing in the library of students reading at that grade level. Older students writing for a younger audience might find this tool useful to adequately adjust the level for audience. Teachers writing to their students may also value this feedback.
Additionally, teachers often like to use their own writing or the writing of their students for mentor texts. When I was a coach, this required us to review each text to determine reading level for that text. While this is a worthwhile activity to do to analyze writing, it is extremely time-consuming and so, this was often rarely done. Fortunately, there are now tools that do this for you, for free, for free and require nothing to download.
The Tool: Reading Level Check in Word and Google Docs
Both Google Docs and Microsoft Word provide three indicators of the reading level of the document you're creating. They will each calculate for you the Flesch Reading Ease, Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, and the Automatic Readability Index. In Google Docs you visit the tools menu and select the word count option. In MS Word, you click on the Microsoft Office button, then selectWord Options, Click Proofing, make sure Check grammar with spelling is selected, under When correcting grammar in Word, select the Show readability statistics check box. Then open your document in word and run a spell check.
This allows teachers and students to instantly see the difficulty level of their writing. Are they writing at a 2nd grade level or 12th grade? What level is right for the audience they are trying to reach? Writing teachers can use this to assess growth of their writers across the year. For reading instruction this is a great way to be able to determine the reading level of student and teacher created work that can be used for mentor texts.
Watch more: http://screenjel.ly/1qPiyavK4pA
READING LEVEL TOOLS
Overview: As a literacy coach teachers and I spent a lot of money and countless hours leveling books. We had various directories to sort through to find a book and for those we couldn't find we would use a guide to level it ourselves. Then we would write the level on the book with the sharpie. The guide books were expensive, and time to do this was limited. Fortunately, there are now tools that do this for you, for free, with nothing to download.
The Tool:Find A Book To find the reading level of professionally published material, teachers and students can visit Find A Book which allows users for free to type in any book and find the reading level of that book, or perhaps more powerful they can type in their reading level and interest and build a custom reading list on the subjects that interest the reader most. Additionally, there is an age slider that allows you to Move the sliders to adjust search results by age-appropriateness.
Watch More:
INTERACTIVE WHITEBOARD ALTERNATIVE
Overview: Interactive Whiteboard like Smartboards and Promethean are all the rage with educators and administrators because they promote interactivity and student engagement. As such schools happily spend tens of thousands of dollars outfitting their classrooms. As the Professional Development Manager for the iTeach/iLearn 1-to-1 laptop initiative involving 24 schools in New York City I had the opportunity to visit many classrooms outfitted with these devices. Here’s what I saw. Teachers spending more time talking in front of the room. Teachers getting caught in the light of the projector as they took their sage on the stage role in the spotlight. Many issues with speakers, calibration issues, wires that were in the way and every so often the proud moment when a kid came up and tapped the board. Now, call me crazy but I don’t think Mr. Van Winkle would feel very comfortable in this classroom. The teacher is still usually front and center talking on and on and every so often a lucky kids comes up to the board to do something. The board has a light shining on it sure, but so what?
The Tool:Projector Only
Save thousands per classroom by ditching the Interactive Whiteboard and projector cart. I don’t suggest this because I think interactive whiteboards are a luxury, I suggest it, because I think teachers are more effective without the interactive whiteboard. The interactive whiteboard companies have spent thousands of dollars convincing you that you need these boards for a 21st century classroom, but you don’t. I’ve been working with these companies for years and have challenged them to convince me otherwise but to date none have succeeded in changing my mind that this is a colossal waste of money.
You can accomplish the same instructional goals with a laptop and projector. The benefit is rather than having the teacher front and center in the classroom s/he can be eye to eye with students as the class work is projected behind him/her. Additionally, this enables the teacher to stay at the command station, the hub of where their work is…at their laptop. No awkward traveling back and forth between the laptop and interactive whiteboard or requiring presenting to be a two person activity. The same, if not more, interactivity can be achieved with student coming over to the laptop to share. You may hear that the software is the reason you need to make this costly purchase. I have found there are free alternatives to achieve the same goals.
Overview: Most educators know that technically video conferencing is a great idea for global connections and connecting students with experts. However, many have been told you need expensive equipment, software, a technician on hand and more. It’s not true! Don’t let the people from Polycom or Tandberg sell you a videoconferencing system costing tens of thousands of dollars. At the New York City Department of Education there are several such systems not being utilized because they require staff and maintenance that had not just not proven feasible for upkeep and maintenance in the school system.
The Tool: tinychat tinychatis a free service that provides text, audio, and video chat rooms. One of the benefits of Tinychat is that nobody involved needs special software to join in and you don’t need to register. From the Tinychat website: Tinychat delivers dead simple video conferences without the extraneous add-ons and inconvenience, making video conferencing an accessible, uncomplicated experience. It works on a variety of systems and browsers; and there is a version available for iPhones. You can have up to twelve people in a room with HQ video, protected by passwords and moderators, share your desktop with them, and your conferences can be recorded and embedded on your website.
Overview: Educators know all too well the importance of and emphasis on bulletin boards and instructional charts. As a former literacy coach, we had a variety of instructional charts creating with every unit of study and classrooms often looked a little jungley with chart paper on the wall, chart paper hanging from clothes pins, etc. Additionally, what to do with all that chart paper when you switched units but knew you might want it back as an instructional chart for another unit? Of course educators also often use activities where post its may be used and posted around the room in support of a particular activity. Usually, all the learning is lost, stuffed into the back of a closet or the trash never to be seen again unless you are a rare educator who types them all up.
The Tool: Wallwisher No more forgotten parking lots. No more having to type notes from post-its placed on chart paper. No more need to have tattered instructional charts strewn around the room. Hurray for Wallwisher, a website that allows you to leave virtual ‘post it’ notes in one place on the web. As well as text you can also embed hyperlnks, pictures and video. The Wallwisher online NOTICE BOARD maker is ideal for making announcements, keeping notes, and basically anything you can do with Post its and more. Students can partake without signing in or needing an email address.
Overview: Screen capture recording enables teachers to create interactive course material that truly engages students. School administrators and staff can also use it to develop customized training on software applications, policies, and procedures. From online tutorials to software demonstrations, better communication and improved comprehension of material are at your fingertips with screencapture. Of course using a tool like Captivate at a price of about $700 for general consumers or even $240 for educators can be prohibitive. Especially, if you want to use this tool with various students on various computers having them author content.
The Tool: ScreenJelly and Screentoaster ScreenJelly and Screentoaster record your screen activity with your voice for FREE so you can spread it instantly in any format you'd like with one click of a mouse. Use it to quickly share cool apps or software tips, report a bug, or just show stuff you like. To start recording, click on the red button. No need to install or download anything! Teachers can use this to record short lessons or tutorials for their students, or better yet, let their students record the tutorials for each other. Screenjelly, which comes from the the team that created ScreenToaster, is touted as being the simplest two use and has a three-minute limit. ScreenToaster has a few more bells and whistles and no such limit.
This is just a smattering of the many free and easy to use technologies available to innovative educators. Once classrooms are set up with the basic starter kick (read COST EFFECTIVE WAYS TO PREPARE YOUR SCHOOL OR CLASSROOM FOR 21ST CENTURY LEARNING) there is very little they can't do with students for free. In addition to each educator's personal learning network friends established in places like Facebook, Twitter, and Classroom 2.0, educators can continue to find great ideas right here on blogs like The Innovative Educator and/or the blog most celebrated for free educator stuff Free Technology for Teachers.
When I came across The Best About Me Page You’ll Ever See on my Twitterfeed I expected to see some funky ideas I could use for my own rather dull “About Me” page. Especially since the “About Me” page belongs to Aaron Iba, the now former CEO of AppJet, the company who created EtherPad which I recently mentioned in 8 Free and Easy Ways to Begin Educating Innovatively. Followers of my blog, Twitter, and Facebook know Etherpad was just acquired by Google for a reported $10 million. Instead of that funky cool idea, I saw a picture of Iba as a child and a link to a clinical psychology report from a 7-year old Aaron that was very similar to my own clinical psychology report my mother shared when I first entered school.
At a recent Innovation meeting when talking about what a game changer digital books are, a colleague posed the question, "What is lost when you are not holding an actual book?"
